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Syrian Islamist rebels reject Western-backed opposition

By Elizabeth A. Kennedy Associated Press

Posted:
11/19/2012 10:54:56 PM MST

Updated:
11/19/2012 10:55:41 PM MST

Click photo to enlarge

In this Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012 photo, a rebel sniper overlooks Syrian army just outside the town center of the northwestern city of Maraat al-Numan, Syria. After months of fierce fighting for control of the vital Aleppo-Damascus highway, rebels have succeeded in pushing the Syrian army out of the center of Maraat al-Numan located on the highway between Aleppo and Hama. (AP Photo/Mustafa Karali)

BEIRUT -- Syria's increasingly powerful Islamist rebel factions rejected the country's new Western-backed opposition coalition and unilaterally declared an Islamic state in the key battleground of Aleppo, a sign of the seemingly intractable splits among those fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.

The move highlights the struggle over the direction of the rebellion at a time when the opposition is trying to gain the West's trust and secure a flow of weapons to fight the regime. The rising profile of the extremist faction among the rebels could doom those efforts.

Such divisions have hobbled the opposition over the course of the uprising, which has descended into a bloody civil war. According to activists, nearly 40,000 people have been killed since the revolt began 20 months ago. The fighting has been particularly extreme in Aleppo, Syria's largest city and a major front in the civil war since the summer.

Salman Shaikh, director of The Brookings Doha Center in Qatar, said Monday the Islamists' declaration will unsettle both Western backers of the Syrian opposition and groups inside Syria, ranging from secularists to the Christian minority.

"They have to feel that the future of their country could be slipping away," Shaikh said. "This is a sign of things to come the longer this goes on. The Islamist groups and extremists will increasingly be forging alliances and taking matters into their own hands.

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" The West is particularly concerned about sending weapons to rebels for fear they could end up in extremists' hands.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that since the new opposition group has endorsed pluralism and tolerance, "it's not surprising to us that those who want an extremist state, or a heavily Islamist state in Syria have taken issue with this."

The Islamists' announcement, made in an online video released Sunday, shows the competing influences within the rebellion, between religious hard-liners who want to create an Islamic state in Syria -- including foreign al-Qaida-style jihadi fighters -- and the newly formed Syrian National Coalition, which was created earlier this month in hopes of uniting the disparate groups fighting Assad's regime.

The National Coalition was formed under pressure from the United States, which sought a more reliable partner that nations could support. Key to its credibility is whether it can ensure the support of the multiple, highly independent rebel brigades battling on the ground across the country within Syria, which largely ignored the previous opposition political leadership, made up of exiles.

In the new video, 13 Islamic radical factions denounced the coalition as a foreign creation.

Most important among them were the al-Tawheed Brigade, which is one of the largest rebel groups operating in Aleppo, and Jabhat al-Nusra -- Arabic for "the Support Front" -- which is mainly made up of foreign jihadi fighters. Jabhat al-Nusra has become notorious for suicide bombings targeting regime and military facilities and is at the forefront of fighting in Aleppo.

"We are the representatives of the fighting formations in Aleppo and we declare our rejection of the conspiratorial project, the so-called national alliance," an unidentified speaker said in the video. "We have unanimously agreed to urgently establish an Islamic state."

He spoke at the head of a conference table where about 20 others were gathered, with a black Islamist flag behind them.

The authenticity of the video could not be independently confirmed, but it was released on a website that carries al-Qaida and other militant statements, as well as on the al-Tawheed Brigade website.

The new opposition bloc, formed Nov. 11 in Qatar, is trying to allay fears of extremism within the rebellion. A moderate cleric, Mouaz al-Khatib, was chosen as its leader in an attempt to establish the movement's religious credentials with the public while countering more radical factions.

In Cairo, al-Khatib played down the significance of those who reject the alliance, saying, "we will keep in contact with them for more cooperation in the interest of the Syrian people." He also announced that the coalition would be headquartered in the Egyptian capital.

The coalition is gaining some traction internationally. France was the first Western nation to recognize it as the only legitimate representative of the Syrian people. France also welcomed a member of the Syrian opposition as the country's ambassador.

Turkey and the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council also recognized the group as the representative of the Syrian people.

But the United States and Italy have been somewhat less forthcoming. President Barack Obama has said the U.S. needed more time and wanted to make sure that the group "is committed to a democratic Syria, an inclusive Syria, a moderate Syria."

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